mass action handbook
getting your community on the road and into the street

taking it to the next level

introduction/what
it means to take it to the next level:going
to a mass mobilization offers activists an opportunity to briefly live
in the world we want to see. we have democratic spokescouncils, we share
jobs, we solve our own problems, we provide for each other, we share skills,
we learn skills...we spend those few days in participatory living on a
mass level, not solely on a local level.

this
handbook was written by activists who have participated in organizing
to take nearly 100 different people from our community to 11 different
actions for a total of about 120 person-trips. We've made a lot of mistakes
and learned a lot. coming from a midwestern state has provided ample opportunities
to learn how to travel to a mass mobilization. our community has participated
in most of the north american mobilizations, from seattle to québec
to cancún. sometimes effectively, sometimes walking away understanding
that there is much to learn. we feel that we have discovered some things
that work. we're hoping our experience can be useful to you.

to
give you a sense of where this is coming from, here are some of our values
and principles:

we
operate as democratically as we can figure out how to.

we
operate as inclusively as we can figure out how to. we are vigilant
about avoiding elitism, "security culture", ideological rigidity,
and vanguardism.

we
try to prioritize the "process" (building skills and community)
over the "product" (doing it "right") as much as
possible. that means we encourage people to take on new tasks as much
as possible and we try to be ok with people making mistakes.

we
have learned that there are some moments in which to temporarily give
some people authority or responsibility which means that decisions will
not be made democratically (getting up in the morning and sorting people
into vehicles are two of those moments).

we
think it is revolutionary for people to challenge their individualism
and learn to work with a group, particularly if that means learning
new skills because things need done, learning to confront people rather
than avoid them or leave, learning to give voice and to listen, and
learning to be accountable to other people.

we
see mass actions not as a substitute for organizing locally nor as the
most important kind of activism. we see them as very useful ruptures
of ordinary life in which activists have an opportunity to live the
world we want to create, to experience being with other people who are
critical and believe in change, and to learn skills and perspectives
to enhance local organizing and future activism.

this
website is intended as a tool of empowerment for people who are ready
to push themselves to new forms of activism. it is focused on traveling
to mass mobilizations, but much of the information is extremely helpful
in organizing within your own community. the tools that we are trying
to pass on come from action planning, workshop training, our own experience,
and a lot of discussion about how to bring our theories to live. you will
recognize elements from the ruckus society, sierra student coalition,
southern empowerment project, black cross, and anarchism in action.

please remember
that mass actions should not eclipse local organizing, nor are they the bravest
or most effective activism. they provide another way to express your resistance
and participate in actions to create a more just world. think of traveling to
a mass action as an opportunity to challenge your activism, taking your organizing
to another level of commitment, skill, and expression.